1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program, and in particular to an improvement in a control method for making an image processing apparatus execute rewrite of firmware and an image processing job.
2 Related Art
Conventionally, various methods have been proposed for upgrading (rewriting) firmware that controls the operations of a printer. One example of such is a method for connecting a printer to a center apparatus that is located distant from the printer via a network such as the Internet, and transmitting firmware from the center apparatus to the printer, and rewriting contents of a flash ROM that is incorporated in the printer.
In view of the cost, a printer that executes such rewrite of firmware receives firmware conventionally using a serial interface whose transmission speed is low. With the recent trend of an increased capacity of firmware in mega units, rewrite of such firmware with a large capacity may require a processing time of several tens minutes. Also, naturally, a print job cannot be executed while rewrite of firmware is being executed.
Here, rewrite of firmware is executed mainly aiming at improving performances of an apparatus. Accordingly, it is preferable to execute such a rewrite process as early as possible. For example, if such a rewrite process is delayed, a print job executed before the rewrite process may turn out to suffer from a poor printing quality such as a poor color shade. Such a print job that has resulted in a poor printing quality in the worst case may need to be executed again. Considering this, as one example, a method may be considered for executing a rewrite process of firmware with a higher priority than print jobs that are in an execution queue, and executing the print jobs upon completion of the firmware rewrite process. In this case, however, execution of these print jobs is delayed for a long time until the firmware rewrite process is completed. This situation gives rise to a great inconvenience to a user who is in a hurry for printing documents. On the other hand, if a rewrite process of firmware is executed with a lower priority than print jobs, the print jobs may turn out to suffer from a poor printing quality such as a poor color shade as described above.
These problems may occur not only to printers but also to any image processing apparatuses such as scanners that execute an image processing job and have the function of rewriting firmware.